Celebrating arts, community and resurgence in Quw’utsun Territory (Cowichan Bay)

September 8th – 10th.

We are a volunteer collective of musicians, artists, and organizers who aspire to belong to vibrant communities working towards social justice, Indigenous resurgence, reconciliation, stewardship of local ecosystems, and community-driven alternatives to the status quo. We believe in the power of music and art with purpose, and in the importance of gathering in numbers to build our strength and amplify our voices.

Koksilah Music Festival takes place in the unceded territories of the Quw’utsun People at Tuwe’nu (Providence Farm), at the base of Pi’Paam’ (Mt. Tzouhalem) in what is commonly known as Cowichan Bay, or Tl’upalus in Hul’qumi’num.

The festival is organized in recognition and celebration of the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations throughout BC. While 2017 marks the Canada’s 150th year, it also marks more than 500 years of Indigenous resistance to colonial exploitation and assimilation in this region. Our intention is to highlight the perspectives of Indigenous musicians, artists, activists and knowledge keepers. We are partnered with Quw’utsun elders and traditional leaders to ensure that this gathering reflects proper protocols and is accessible to the local Indigenous community.

The festival is named after the Koksilah river, which drains into the Cowichan river not far from the festival grounds. The Koksilah’s deep pools, eddies, and waterfalls are where locals revitalize during the heat of summer. These same swim spots used to provide sanctuary to a healthy salmon run that returned each year to create a new generation of coho, steelhead, chinook, pink, and chum salmon. Weirs maintained by the Quw’utsun people once provided abundant Coho and Spring salmon for the smokehouses every fall. It is now rare to catch a glimpse of a Spring or Coho salmon headed upstream, and we have named this festival in recognition of the broad-based community support the Koksilah will require to return to its former strength, so it can again provide sustenance to the Quw’utsun community.

All festival proceeds will be donated to grassroots initiatives led by Indigenous people asserting sovereignty over their ancestral territories. Funds will be split between the Xwaaqw’um cultural resurgence project, Unist’ot’en Camp, and Lax U’u’la Camp (Lelu Island). These groups are working tirelessly to re-occupy and protect their traditional lands and waters, revitalize their cultural practices, and reconnect people with the land.

Questions about Part One to Seb Bonet (jsbonet@gmail.com; 250-477-9071)
Questions about Part Two to Chris Fretwell (socialcoast@gmail.com; 250-884-5573)

Kinder Morgan wants to start construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in September. For Kwantlen and Nlaka’Pamux Nations, Kinder Morgan’s plans represent the continuation of 150 years of colonial encroachment, which they continue to resist and resurge against.

We invite you to come and hear from keynote speaker Clarence Dick from the Lkwungen Nation, as well as Kachina Bige (Cree and Dene from Lutsel K’e) and Brandon Gabriel from Kwantlen Nation about the history of their territory (which stretches from New Westminster, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Mission, Langley, Glen Valley, and Fort Langley ), and their plans to begin construction of a Healing Lodge in the path of the expansion, among other elements of their planned and ongoing resistance.

We will also hear from Billie Pierre from Nlaka’Pamux. Billie lives in Merritt, and has been actively involved in the grass roots Indigenous movement since 1995, and will also speak to her people’s long struggle against colonialism, which she has been directly involved in since the mid-90’s, and share her wisdom from the grassroots about impacts the Trans Mountain expansion project has already had, and the ways her people are resisting it.

There will also be a stand-up performance from Jeff Corntassel, who is Tsalagi (Cherokee), and hip-hop by Savage Fam, from Klallam.

This event is a fundraiser for grassroots resistance to Kinder Morgan; its details are still being finalized. We will be requesting donations on a sliding scale from $0-$15 at the door to support our panelists.

BACKGROUND:

If you can’t make this event, but would like to hear video recordings from these speakers, try these links:

Details for this event are still being finalized. It is being coordinated by some of the people who participate in an informal, relationship-based network called OUST Victoria. Please contact Seb Bonet (jsbonet@gmail.com, 250-853-3926) if you have questions or concerns about who is organizing this event, or how it has been put together. We would also like to thank Social Justice Studies at UVic for donating to make this event happen.

The Camp of the Sacred Stones and the Red Warrior Camp have called for #NoDAPL Global supportive Actions

TD Bank is one of the funders of the Dakota Access Pipeline. We are demanding that these banks and lenders to cut off all line of credit to the pipeline companies and to stop funding the DAPL.The plan is to meet at TD at 5 pm with noise makers, signs and anything else to support a non-violent demonstration inside the bank. This will also be a great opportunity for anyone currently banking with TD to come out and close your bank account!

<<We would also like to acknowledge that this action is taking place on the territories of Lekwungen speaking people. In thinking about Mni Wiconi, that water is life, we would like to highlight the May 9th spill of 30,000L of diesel fuel in Plumper Bay, on the beaches of the Esquimalt FN reservation, a spill which has interrupted their seafood harvesting and ceremonial activities.>>

July 19, Buckley Bay “British Columbia” (K’omoks Territory) some anarchists dropped a banner from an overpass in solidarity with the Unis’to’ten Camp, which is currently facing escalating repression from Chevron and the RCMP. The banner read: “No Pipelines! Attack the Frack” Hundreds of leaflets were also distributed at the Denman Island Readers & Writers Festival. These small gestures have brought people together in our area to help spread bonds of resistance at this important time. Fuck Chevron and the RCMP! No Pipelines, No LNG!

50 citizens crashed a TransCanada open house in Hazelton, B.C, to protest the company’s plans to build $9-billion natural gas pipelines for LNG terminals

LNG protest in Hazelton TransCanada open house – photo provided by Hannah Campbell

TransCanada officials faced a loud and uncomfortable flash mob from northern B.C. citizens at the company’s open house in the town of Hazelton Wednesday night.

A group of 50 citizens opposed to B.C.’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) push staged a dramatic protest at the public forum, first unveiling “LNG Kills” t-shirts and signs, then literally yelling at company officials.

“I want to see some numbers, I want to see some names!” bellowed Gitxsan Wing Chief Gilbert Johnson at TransCanada staff standing at attention.

Amateur video footage documents the moment. It shows Johnson repeating an allegation that TransCanada does not have the approvals of the proper hereditary chiefs in the area, many of whom are dead-set against LNG pipeline testing and construction on their traditional lands.

The province’s Oil and Gas Commission has granted legal permits to the company to do exploratory drilling. The permits are signed off by local Gitxsan, but Johnson says not all the names are “genuine” chiefs.